Media bias

The Malta Independent

Media bias

If any proof was needed on the substantial bias of the print media against` the Labour Party we had two instances in recent weeks which puts the writing in bold format.

Super One complex was one of the first targets for the anthrax hoax scare. Unlike the post offices Super One could not close down. It does not run a monopoly service as the post offices do where clients have no option but to wait for their mail. Super One clients have a choice.` If the station does not keep up its scheduled appointment with the audiences, for whatever reason, they will just zap on to other stations.

Bravely a nucleus of executives and technical employees camped inside the station for 3 days to ensure continuity with minimum disruption to the running schedule. A tent was built overnight in the car-park to serve as a temporary studio for guests that could not make their way inside the building until the scare was proved to be a hoax.

Yet the media practically disregarded this as a non-event preferring instead to give prominence to closed post offices. Just imagine if the shoe was on the other foot. If the scare happened to the PN`s media station under a Labour government. Just imagine how many front pages of daily newspapers would have been filled with the story and how many innuendos would have been floated that it is all part of a devious plan to silence the opposition. But that`s what friends are for,` I suppose.

The next event which the media has treated as a non-event is even more serious. The PN General Secretary confirmed in black and white on` two separate occasions that he has issued instructions to all PN spokesperson to refuse all invitations to take part in discussion programmes on Super One TV.` The excuse is as laughable as it is lame. He argued that PN representatives are not treated with respect as in many cases the debating panels are biased pro-Labour and the inclusion of PN elements is just to give the semblance of an open debate. He further argued that Super One TV is politically biased by including in the political armoury also programmes of pseudo drama and satire.

Now anyone who expects a political party to own a media station and such station should not be` biased to the political party`s editorial line is expecting the impossible. Super One TV is no more biased in favour of Labour than Net is biased in favour of the PN. But it would be a sad day for Maltese journalism if debate programmes on Super One TV were to exclude PN elements and vice-versa on Net TV. With all bias it is still better than no representation. I personally attended various debate programmes on both Net and TVM and more often than not the panel was loaded against me. Yet I did not regret my presence as I thought that it was a service to tele-viewers,` even Nationalist ones to have a contrasting viewpoint on the programme.

The real reason why the PN is boycotting Super One TV( excepting Min. Refalo it seems who accepted to appear on Norman Hamilton`s Bla Agenda notwithstanding the wishes of the PN general secretary) is that they wish to neutralise the increased effectiveness of Super One media by making it appear biased and one-sided.

Labour could well be tempted to reply in kind.` It would be a mistake.` The zero-sum game would benefit the PN as their TV comes nowhere near Super One in terms of effectiveness and diffusion.

Labour should expose the PN`s devious plan and insist that serious organisations like the Malta Press Club also condemn such a negative attitude by the PN`s general secretary.` The Malta Press Club could also take some initiative to stimulate ethics for` more balanced and informative debates on political parties media.

The Press should also condemn what is condemnable whoever is the author.